Ellesmere Win Midlands Final and Progress to National Semi-Finals

Ellesmere College Under 15 Cricket team are down to the last 4 and through to the semi-finals of English Schools Cricket Association (ESCA) Cup after sealing a convincing win in the Midlands final against Warwick School.

The team have progressed through from the Midlands regional matches with a number of convincing performances against Rydal Penrhos and Wolverhampton Grammar School, whom they beat by 9 wickets. In the semi-final Ellesmere defeated Leicestershire champions Oakham School by 6 wickets to progress to the final.

In a very entertaining match, Ellesmere completed the run chase with 22 balls to spare, having recovered from Warwick School racing to 90-2 of 12 overs, to dismiss them for 128. Two wickets for skipper Sam Ellis in his opening spell was then supported well by Tom Furnival (2-17) and Connor Davies (1-36). Harry Newton was outstanding taking 3 wickets and conceding just 6 runs in his 5 overs.

Captain Sam Ellis said " We are really enjoying the success at the moment, it's been good to carry on with where we left off last year, all the team are working hard and we all wanted to make an impact in this competition after the disappointment of missing out on the County final the day before."

A solid start from the batting partnerships of Mathew Batkin (28) and Ben Beaver (23) before a consistent flow of wickets put pressure on Ellesmere with 26 runs needed to win .Connor Davies (18*) and Harry Newton (23*) both held it together to complete the victory and progress to the national semi-finals against the winners of the north section, Manchester Grammar or Barnards Castle.

Coach Gareth Owen said "Since becoming Under 14 county champions last summer the boys have worked really hard throughout the winter in our Academy Programme. As a result they are now reaping the rewards for their efforts. They narrowly missed out on the county title and to immediately bounce back with this result is outstanding for all the team."


4th June 2015  Back to News